Listing snapshot
| Spotted | July 2023 |
| Asking price | $3,999 |
| Mileage | 77,867 |
| Location | New Jersey (dealer) |
| Listed on | Cars.com, dealer listing |
| Drivetrain | 3.3-liter V6, three-speed automatic, front-wheel drive |
| Status | Ad expired. This page is our archive of the listing. |
We found this 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais SL coupe on Cars.com in July 2023, offered by a classic-car dealer for $3,999 with 77,867 miles on it. The ad is gone now, but we keep the record. A real asking price with real photos is the best tool you have when pricing one of these.
What this car was
A red two-door coupe with grey lower body cladding and a grey cloth interior. The photos show straight panels, a trunk-lid luggage rack and wire-style wheel covers. The paint still had a decent shine and the listing described the body as rust-free.
Power came from the 3.3-liter V6 driving the front wheels through a three-speed automatic. For a late-’80s compact, the SL was well equipped. The listing called out:
- Power brakes, power windows and power door locks
- Air conditioning
- AM/FM stereo with cassette
- A recent service with fresh fluids and filters, plus a tune-up
Inside, the grey cloth seats and door panels look clean in the photos, and the dealer had left paper floor mats in place. Nothing in the pictures suggests a hard life.
Was $3,999 a fair ask?
For a clean, low-mileage V6 coupe that had just been serviced, $3,999 looked fair in 2023. Calais coupes from this era are cheap cars, and most were driven hard and thrown away, so a tidy one is rare. Against that, it is an automatic front-drive commuter car, not a collector model, and dealer pricing usually leaves less room to haggle than a private sale.
A little Cutlass Calais history
The Cutlass Calais arrived for 1985 as Oldsmobile’s version of GM’s compact N-body, the same platform as the Pontiac Grand Am and Buick Somerset/Skylark. It came as a coupe or sedan. The Calais ran through 1991, after which Oldsmobile dropped the Cutlass part of the name and sold it as the Achieva.
More cars from the archive
- Every Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais we’ve spotted, with asking prices
- 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, another Oldsmobile
- 1992 Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo, another Oldsmobile
- 1990 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Royale, another Oldsmobile
- 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue, another Oldsmobile
- 1963 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88, another Oldsmobile
